Saigon
The Quiet American
The Headmaster’s Wager
The Sorrow of War
Chickenhawk
Adam and Evie’s Matchmaking Tour 
Crime fiction set in WYOMING and MONTANA
Ten Great Books set in VIETNAM
8th March 2026
Ten great books set in Vietnam. Vietnam is a vibrant nation in Southeast Asia, defined by its resilient history and breathtaking natural beauty. From the emerald waters of Ha Long Bay to the bustling streets of Ho Chi Minh City, it offers a stunning contrast between ancient traditions and rapid modern growth.
In 2026, Vietnam has emerged as a global tourism powerhouse and an economic ‘tiger’, fuelled by a young, dynamic workforce and a booming manufacturing sector. Visitors are drawn to its world-class cuisine – like aromatic pho and banh mi – and the serene charm of UNESCO sites like Hoi An. It remains a captivating blend of heritage and ambition. A great place to visit.
Here are ten of our favourite books set in the country
Dragon House
by John Shors
An unforgettable story of redemption set in modern-day Vietnam.
Dragon House tells the tale of Iris and Noah – two Americans who, as a way of healing their own painful pasts, open a centre to house and educate Vietnamese street children. In the slums of a city that has known little but war for generations, Iris and Noah befriend children who dream of nothing more than of going to school, having a home, and being loved.
Learning from the poorest of the poor, the most silent of the unheard, Iris and Noah find themselves reborn. Resounding with powerful themes of suffering, sacrifice, friendship, and love, Dragon House brings together East and West, war and peace, and celebrates the resilience of the human spirit.
Saigon by Anthony Grey
Joseph Sherman first visits Saigon, the capital of French colonial Cochin-China, in 1925 on a hunting expedition with his father, a US senator. He is lured back again and again as a traveler, a soldier, and then as a reporter by his fascination for the exotic land and for Lan, a mandarin’s daughter he cannot forget.
Over five decades, Joseph’s life becomes enmeshed with the political intrigues of two of Saigon’s most influential families, the French colonist Devrauxs, and the native Trans – and inevitably with Vietnam’s turbulent, war torn fate. He is there when the hatred of a million coolies rises against the French, and when the French Foreign Legion fights its bloody last stand at Dien Bien Phu.
The Lotus Eaters by Tatjana Soli
As the fall of Saigon begins in 1975, two lovers make their way through the streets, desperately trying to catch one of the last planes out. Helen Adams, a photojournalist, must leave behind a war she has become addicted to and a devastated country she loves. Linh, her lover, must grapple with his own conflicting loyalties to the woman from whom he can’t bear to be parted, and his country.
Betrayal and self-sacrifice follows, echoing the pattern of their relationship over the war-torn years, beginning in the splendour of Angkor Wat, with jaded, cynical, larger-than-life war correspondent Sam Darrow, Helen’s greatest love and fiercest competitor, driven by demons she can only hope to vanquish.
Spurred on by the need to get the truth of the war out to an international audience, and the immense personal cost this carries, Sam and Helen’s passionate and all-consuming love is tested to the limit. This mesmerising novel carries resonance across contemporary wars with questions of love and heart-breaking betrayal interwoven with the conflict.
The Quiet American by Graham Greene
‘The novel that I love the most is The Quiet American‘ Ian McEwan, Sunday Times bestselling author of Lessons
Into the intrigue and violence of 1950s Saigon comes CIA agent Alden Pyle, a young idealistic American sent to promote democracy through a mysterious ‘Third Force’.
As Pyle’s naive optimism starts to cause bloodshed, his friend Fowler, a cynical foreign correspondent, finds it hard to stand aside and watch. But even as Fowler intervenes he wonders why: for the greater good, or something altogether more complicated?
The Headmaster’s Wager by Vincent Lam
From internationally acclaimed and bestselling author Vincent Lam comes a superbly crafted, highly suspenseful, and deeply affecting novel set against the turmoil of the Vietnam War.
Percival Chen is the headmaster of the most respected English school in Saigon. He is also a bon vivant, a compulsive gambler and an incorrigible womanizer. Well accustomed to bribing government officials, he is quick to spot the business opportunities rife in a divided country. He devotedly ignores all news of conflict, choosing instead to read the faces of his opponents at high-stakes mahjong tables.
But when his only son gets in trouble with the Vietnamese authorities, Percival is forced to send him away. In the loneliness that follows, Percival finds solace in Jacqueline, a beautiful woman of mixed French and Vietnamese heritage, and Laing Jai, a son born to them on the eve of the Tet offensive. Percival’s new-found happiness is precarious, and as the complexities of war encroach further and further into his world.
The Sorrow of War by Bao Ninh
Kien searches the Jungle of Screaming Souls to recover the dead, haunted by the day in 1969 when napalm destroyed his battalion.
He knows the area well – this was where, in the dry season of 1969, his battalion was obliterated by American napalm and helicopter gunfire. Kien was one of only ten survivors. This book is his attempt to understand the eleven years of his life he gave to the Vietnam War.
Drawing on Bao Ninh’s own service in the North Vietnamese army, The Sorrow of War reveals the lasting psychological cost of survival.
The Women by Kristin Hannah
It would be the journey of a lifetime . . .
‘Women can be heroes, too’. When twenty-year-old nursing student, Frances “Frankie” McGrath, hears these unexpected words, it is a revelation. Raised on California’s idyllic Coronado Island and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing, being a good girl. But in 1965 the world is changing, and she suddenly imagines a different path for her life. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she impulsively joins the Army Nurses Corps and follows his path.
As green and inexperienced as the young men sent to Vietnam to fight, Frankie is overwhelmed by the chaos and destruction of war, as well as the unexpected trauma of coming home to a changed America. Frankie will also discover the true value of female friendship and the heartbreak that love can cause.
Chickenhawk by Robert Mason
A stunning book about the right stuff in the wrong war.
As a child, Robert Mason dreamed of levitating.
As a young man, he dreamed of flying helicopters – and the U.S. Army gave him his chance.
They sent him to Vietnam where, between August 1965 and July 1966, he flew more than 1,000 assault missions. In Chickenhawk, Robert Mason gives us a devastating bird’s eye-view of that war in all its horror.
He experiences the accelerating terror, the increasingly desperate courage of a man ‘acting out the role of a hero long after he realises that the conduct of the war is insane,’ says the New York Times.
‘And we can’t stop ourselves from identifying with it.’
CHICKENHAWK contains the most vivid, astoundingly intense descriptions of flying ever written. It is a devastating account of men at war, of courage and cowardice, boredom and exhilaration, lasting friendship and sudden death. It is not a book for weak stomachs, but its powerful message will stay in the memory long after the last page is turned.
Adam and Evie’s Matchmaking Tour by Nora Nguyen
A rollicking, unforgettable romance about two strangers finding love despite their best efforts as they embark on a sweeping matchmaking tour through Vietnam.
Evie Lang’s life is in shambles. On the heels of losing her beloved aunt, she’s unceremoniously fired from her poetry professorship. Lacking income and inspiration, she has no idea how to move forward – until hope arrives in the form of a surprising letter.
Auntie Hảo has left her house in San Francisco to Evie. The catch? To inherit, she must go on a pre-arranged matchmaking tour in Vietnam.
Adam Quyen has a chip on his shoulder. He’s working for his sister’s elite matchmaking company and desperate to prove himself, so when she challenges him to join the first tour, he reluctantly agrees.
Adam thinks Evie is chaotic and unpredictable. Evie thinks Adam is grumpy and uptight. But their chemistry is undeniable, their animosity charged with attraction. Will they find their perfect match in the last place they thought to look?
Dust Child by Que Mai Phan Nguyen
Four lives, entwined forever by decisions made in a time of conflict. But what happens decades later when they unexpectedly converge once more?
Trang and Quynh: sisters who leave their rural village for the bustling city of Saigon, desperate to find work to help their impoverished parents. When they take jobs as ‘ bar girls’, paid to flirt with American GIs, they must decide whether they are willing to turn their backs on the people they used to be.
Phong: one of the thousands of mixed-race children abandoned by their American fathers and Vietnamese mothers. Phong grows up surrounded by rejection, insulted as a ‘Black American imperialist’, and a ‘child of the enemy’. But he never gives up hope of finding his parents and proving he is more than a ‘bui doi’: more than the ‘dust of life’.
Dan: A former American helicopter pilot still plagued by regrets about his actions during the Việt Nam war. Now he has returned in the hope of confronting the demons that refuse to fall silent.
Set between the Vietnam war and the present day, Dust Child is a sweeping epic of family secrets and hidden heartache, from an internationally celebrated author.
Enjoy our selection of books set in Vietnam!
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